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Learning disabilities and criminal justice: custody sergeants’ perceptions of alleged offenders with learning disabilities
- Author:
- HELLENBACH Michael
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40(1), March 2012, pp.15-22.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Despite increased attention by the government towards providing support to people with learning disabilities within the criminal justice system, research suggests that people with learning disabilities are still disadvantaged when they come to the attention of criminal justice authorities. This study aimed to explore attitudes and opinions held by custody sergeants towards offenders with learning disabilities. Unstructured interviews were held with 14 custody sergeants from Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Three themes emerged from analysis of the interview transcripts: identification of people with a learning disability; professional identity; and pressure and problems. The findings showed that there is a lot of confusion about what characterises a person with learning disabilities. It is argued that learning disability is constructed in relation to concepts of fairness and justice, which a custody sergeant may utilise in accordance with their perception of professional identity. These constructs influence custody sergeants in their decision about how individual detainees should be treated and what kind of support should be made accessible to them whilst being detained. Pressure resulting from performance targets further compromised a detainee’s need for support to be sufficiently considered.
Relationship between prior legal involvement and current crisis for adults with intellectual disability
- Authors:
- LUNSKY Yona, RAINA Poonam, JONES Jessica
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 37(2), June 2012, pp.163-168.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The aim of this study was to describe the demographic and clinical profile of individuals with intellectual disability and a history of legal involvement, and to determine whether legal history predicted physical aggression. It focused in particular on individuals who had experienced crisis (defined for this study as an acute disturbance of thought, mood, behaviour or social relationship requiring immediate attention as defined by the individual, family or community). Information about adults with intellectual disability who had experienced crisis was gathered through health staff in service agencies in Ontario, Canada, and the study compared 130 participants with a history of legal involvement with 617 without legal involvement. Overall it found that those with a known history of legal involvement were younger, higher functioning and more likely to be male and living in unsupported settings. Individuals with legal issues were also more likely to have experienced multiple negative life events. The article reports that although those with legal involvement were no more likely to present with physical aggression than others, their crisis outcome differed, with legal history predicting police involvement in response to crisis.